Silent Illumination is The Practice of The Tathagathas

Silent Illumination is the simplest method of Dhyana Buddhist Practice and therefore can be the most difficult and yet the most powerful of all Buddhist Practices. It is the sitting meditation that the Buddha (Tathagatha) practiced as he realized Complete Enlightenment.

It is our sitting meditation practice at The Flower Ornament. While in sitting meditation maintaining a relaxed straight back in either full lotus, half lotus, legs crossed or sitting in a chair, our hands rest in the Dhyana Mudra (hands placed, left over right, thumbs gently touching), we focus a point of concentration, be it the interface of nostrils with air or the space slightly above the solar plexus and allow the illumination of each thought form or perception into awareness, then return it to silence. This is the essence of non-attachment, the cessation of craving and ultimately the transcendence of birth, suffering and death. It takes lifetimes to master. However, through the portal of birth we don’t know what we have done in the past. Thus we are blind to our potential. Because we have come to this place in time and space in a sea of endless other paths means we have an affinity with this practice. This affinity means we have already entered The Great Way of Buddhadharma. All beginnings precede endings, all endings follow beginnings. The practice of The Flower Ornament is naturally dropping beginnings and endings.

In this way, Dhyana Mind is Beginner’s Mind.

Master Laughing Cloud

Master Laughing Cloud (P.F. Martin) is a lay Dhyana Buddhist Master and director of The Flowerornament, a place of Western Buddhist Enlightenment Meditation.

Taking The Buddha’s Teaching

“Taking The Buddha’s Teaching” is an autobiographical account of a life journey along the Path of Buddhist Realization.
For anyone seriously yearning liberation from affliction, this book illuminates the truth that, no matter what obstacles are encountered, Dhyana Practice is Enlightenment.